Automotive fluid ducts are commonly made by blow molding or extruding a resin. These fluid ducts may require additional brackets to position or maintain the duct under the hood, e.g. to avoid contact of the duct with other components, or to hold cables, drains and other lightweight components surrounding the duct. Most brackets are injection molded components that are welded to the duct. Injection molded parts have a defined geometry mating the duct onto a counter dome. The preferred bonding techniques to join the bracket to the duct are generally welding or occasionally overmolding. Both techniques require either welding equipment and fixtures or a robot to dispose an insert inside the molding cavity between molding sequences.
It would be desirable to have a bracket or clip that could be fitted onto a duct or pipe without the need for welding. Various resilient clips are known but they have not proven to be entirely satisfactory such that welding fitment is still commonly used.
Japanese Patent Application Publication JP 2008 196637-A discloses a plastic clamp that requires a particular, complicated tube/duct configuration. U.S. Pat. No. 6,691,381 discloses a mounting clip of particular configuration for mounting a fuel rail, wherein the clip, which is usually of metal, has openings which receive projections on the pipe. Japanese Patent Application Publication JP 2003 125523-A discloses mounting two split rings on a support, between which a circumferential rib on the pipe fits. U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,103 discloses a pipe support system where a pipe fitting having a socket with resilient grooved arms receives lugs on the pipe.
Although the prior art has provided resilient clips for fitting on a pipe or duct, the prior art clips are unsatisfactory in that they require some or all of the following features: pipes of complicated profile, no convenient fit, removal from the pipe, and inconsistent pull-out strength. Thus, prior art clips fail to meet the features of the clip described herein.